newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Hunger Games’ tops slow weekend

LOS ANGELES

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1” continues to dominate the domestic box office, but awards-season hopefuls “Wild” and “The Imitation Game” proved their might with impressive limited- release showings on this sleepy post-Thanksgiving weekend.

In its third weekend in release, “Mockingjay” earned an estimated $21.6 million. Lionsgate’s penultimate chapter in the massively successful franchise now has earned $257.7 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday.

And yet, even though “Mockingjay” is on track to become the second-highest grossing movie of the year by midweek, it’s still about $78 million shy of where the previous installment, “Catching Fire,” was in its third weekend just last year.

For Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak, this deficit is concerning only for the overall box office, which is down 4.6 percent for the year. “We are nearing the finish line for 2014, and that is a lot of ground to make up, but luckily, we have some big movies on the way,” he said of “Into the Woods,” “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” “Annie,” “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” and “Unbroken.”

Though audiences wait for that fresh fare, some still turned out to catch up with the leftovers. DreamWorks Animation’s “Penguins of Madagascar” took second place with $11.1 million in its second weekend, while the raunchy Warner Bros. comedy “Horrible Bosses 2” claimed third place with $8.6 million. The fourth- and fifth-place spots went to Disney’s animated “Big Hero 6” and Paramount’s space odyssey “Interstellar,” which earned $8.13 million and $8 million respectively.

‘Boyhood’ sweeps LA Film Critics Awards

LOS ANGELES

“Boyhood” is on a roll. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Richard Linklater’s 12-year experiment their best picture of 2014 on Sunday.

Linklater also earned a best-director honor for his film, while Patricia Arquette picked up best actress — an interesting choice, since IFC will be pushing her performance in the supporting-actress category for all major awards.

Julianne Moore, meanwhile, who is largely considered an Oscar front- runner for her portrayal of an Alzheimer’s patient in “Still Alice,” was awarded runner-up in the category.

In the past week, “Boyhood” has become the consensus choice for critics groups. The Boston Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle and the New York Film Critics online have all chosen the film as the year’s best. The only outlier is the National Board of Review, which gave that prize to “A Most Violent Year.”

The LA Film Critics Awards often overlap with eventual Oscar nominees, and sometimes winners, but also are known for some quirky choices as well.

Associated Press